UG-TUFS Joint Seminar

General theme: State and Rural Resource Management in Africa

Dates: Monday, March 6 and Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Venue: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana (Legon campus)

The two-day joint seminar counted 41 presenters in total from 12 universities and research institutions in 7 countries. Participants enjoyed intensive discussions.

Ghana seminar programme.pdf

List of presenters.pdf

Pre-meeting events

Date & Time:

1st pre-meeting Friday, July 22, 2022 9:00-10:30 (UTC) / 18:00-19:30 (JST)

2nd pre-meeting Friday, December 16, 2022 9:00-10:30 (UTC) / 18:00-19:30 (JST)

Venue: Online (closed)

Greetings from the organizer

African Studies Center - Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (ASC-TUFS) has made various efforts to construct and develop academic networks with African research and educational institutions. In this context, joint seminars were organized in 2018 and 2020 with the University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa and the Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences (PIASS), Rwanda, respectively. We plan to organize the next joint seminar in March 2023, in collaboration with the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana.

The objectives of the joint seminar are threefold. First, it aims to promote research and publications via the exchange of different perspectives from various countries. In particular, the topic of rural resource management has been emphasized in our discussion. A selection of papers, from those presented in the seminars, have been published in the ASC-TUFS Working Papers series. In addition, the joint seminars led to certain publications, including Shinichi Takeuchi ed. African Land Reform Under Economic Liberalisation: States, Chiefs, and Rural Communities. Singapore: Springer, 2022. Second, a key objective of the seminar is to strengthen the academic network. In the first joint seminar with UP, 22 scholars from six countries made presentations, while 24 scholars from eight countries participated in the second joint seminar with PIASS. The academic network built up thus far, has produced rich and varied results through cooperation. The third objective is to nurture young scholars. Since the first joint seminar, we have invited a number of Ph.D. students and post-doc researchers, to provide them with opportunities for presentation, discussion, and publication.

The general theme of the next seminar, State and rural resource management in Africa, is similar to the previous ones. The center of our research interests is the dynamics of rural resource management and comparative studies within different settings. The topic is of great importance, considering the recent evolution of the political economy in Africa. Meanwhile, a broader range of presentations will be allowed in the seminar.

I sincerely hope that the joint seminar will provide all participants with an arena for fruitful discussion as well as active networking, and will contribute to producing stimulating research results.

Shinichi Takeuchi
Director, African Studies Center - Tokyo University of Foreign Studies